COUNCILLORS in Clitheroe are to meet on June 23 to discuss dishing out thousands of pounds worth of town hall silver.

Clitheroe Town Council is offering 14 trophies and salvers worth from £300 to £3,000 each to schools and organisations, for free. The council has been inundated with inquiries since the great giveaway was reported in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

The trophies and salvers are various shapes and sizes, bear numerous inscriptions, and most date to the late 19th century.

Councillors decided the silverware had become too expensive to insure and maintain after a valuation by Sotheby's revealed its sale value had dropped.

Silverware experts from the top auction house said Victorian silverware was currently fetching only 20 per cent of its replacement value.